diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index c941bb640f49..4532a789fbe3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -283,6 +283,8 @@ static int create_perf_stat_counter(struct perf_evsel *evsel,
 {
 	struct perf_event_attr *attr = &evsel->attr;
 	struct xyarray *group_fd = NULL;
+	bool exclude_guest_missing = false;
+	int ret;
 
 	if (group && evsel != first)
 		group_fd = first->fd;
@@ -293,16 +295,39 @@ static int create_perf_stat_counter(struct perf_evsel *evsel,
 
 	attr->inherit = !no_inherit;
 
-	if (system_wide)
-		return perf_evsel__open_per_cpu(evsel, evsel_list->cpus,
+retry:
+	if (exclude_guest_missing)
+		evsel->attr.exclude_guest = evsel->attr.exclude_host = 0;
+
+	if (system_wide) {
+		ret = perf_evsel__open_per_cpu(evsel, evsel_list->cpus,
 						group, group_fd);
+		if (ret)
+			goto check_ret;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!target_pid && !target_tid && (!group || evsel == first)) {
 		attr->disabled = 1;
 		attr->enable_on_exec = 1;
 	}
 
-	return perf_evsel__open_per_thread(evsel, evsel_list->threads,
-					   group, group_fd);
+	ret = perf_evsel__open_per_thread(evsel, evsel_list->threads,
+					  group, group_fd);
+	if (!ret)
+		return 0;
+	/* fall through */
+check_ret:
+	if (ret && errno == EINVAL) {
+		if (!exclude_guest_missing &&
+		    (evsel->attr.exclude_guest || evsel->attr.exclude_host)) {
+			pr_debug("Old kernel, cannot exclude "
+				 "guest or host samples.\n");
+			exclude_guest_missing = true;
+			goto retry;
+		}
+	}
+	return ret;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/header.c b/tools/perf/util/header.c
index 4c7c2d73251f..c0b70c697a36 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/header.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/header.c
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ int build_id_cache__add_s(const char *sbuild_id, const char *debugdir,
 	if (mkdir_p(filename, 0755))
 		goto out_free;
 
-	snprintf(filename + len, sizeof(filename) - len, "/%s", sbuild_id);
+	snprintf(filename + len, size - len, "/%s", sbuild_id);
 
 	if (access(filename, F_OK)) {
 		if (is_kallsyms) {